


Raging Temper

by ZolphDiggler



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (ish)?, Angst with a Happy Ending, But less on the nose than my usual stuff, Character Study, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25144711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZolphDiggler/pseuds/ZolphDiggler
Summary: Ann finds it interesting that a botched fight in Mementos that resulted in her best friend knocking her flat, could come off as a non issue compared to what it leads to. A small issue for her at least.
Relationships: Sakamoto Ryuji/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Raging Temper

Over the course of the past half a year or so, the horizons of Ann’s world had broadened significantly. The once desperately lonely girl had befriended the likes of a convicted criminal, a talking cat, the student council president and a corporate heiress. She had learned about a world of cognition born from all humanity, and used the powers it granted her to take down everything from disgusting abusive school faculty and mafia Dons, to the conspiracy centred prosecutor that was their current target. Hell even her once passing hobby of modelling had bloomed into a full on life passion, one that gave her once unclear future some much appreciated clarity. However right now Ann’s world was very contained indeed, as it felt to her as if she only knew a single thing.

Pain. Disorienting, throbbing, terrible pain.

As quickly as Ann’s eyes fluttered open they clenched shut again. The unpleasant but familiar bounce of tires over train tracks told her she was currently in Mementos, the turbulence courtesy of Morgana’s car form. As the world around her began to exist once more, she could just about make out the voices of her teammates.

“Oh thank goodness she’s coming around. Panther can you hear me?” the concern in Noir’s voice making itself clear even through the pain.

“You have the energy to use Diaharan on her Queen?” Joker’s tone was all business, lacking the stylish confidence she’d grown to associate with him.

“I’m sorry but no, just about enough for Diarama. Give me a moment.” Queen was rather blatantly exhausted, but as on top of the situation as ever.

“I am glad you are with us once again. There is beauty in your prone body to be sure, though I do not think sketching you would be appropriate somehow.” came Fox’s rather acute and rather disturbing observation.

“Hoo boy. That was omega tier levels of ew even by your standards Inari.” Oracle’s biting rebuttal was one of rather blatant disgust.

“How rude! Did I not state that it would be inappro-”

“Argggh could you all just pipe down? It feels like Mona just ran over my head or something!” As the promised healing spell washed over her, Ann found the strength to sit up and attempt the shut down the conversation about herself.

“Lady A- Panther! I was so worried!” echoed around them the response of the titular creature. “Though just so we’re clear, there’s no way I would ever do anything that.”

“That’s enough Mona.” Joker butted in before turning back towards her, his unamused scowl giving way to a weary smile. “I’m glad you’re okay too though. You feeling alright?”

Ann groaned in response as she managed to sit upright. “Not especially, but I’ll manage.” she said, removing her mask and rubbing her face. “Be nice if someone filled me in on what the hell just happened to me though?”

“Yeah! What exactly did happen there?” snarled their current form of transportation. “Any ideas Skull?” As their leader admonished the not quite a cat again, it suddenly dawned on Ann the lack of one specific concerned voice. One that had her head been any clearer would have been immediately conspicuous by its absence. That being the voice of her longest known teammate and closest friend of the group Ryuji, who instead of fretting was currently sat facing away from her in the corner of the car, trying to make his presence as uncharacteristically small and unnoticeable as possible. The concern behind her own circumstances quickly taking second billing to whatever had him acting so oddly she went to ask him what his problem was, before being interrupted the sudden recollection that told her the causes were likely one in the same.  
“Ah. Right. I remember.”

\----

Unsurprisingly the strength of the Shadows they had encountered throughout Shido’s Palace had been formidable, to the point they were making rather incremental progress. Deciding they couldn’t keep going at such a pace they decided to do what they had always done in such a situation, explore the depths of Mementos and gain strength fighting the weaker Shadows they were already familiar with. However be it by overconfidence or bad luck they had found themselves in a rather poor position, a significant distance from a rest floor, low on energy and face to face with a not inconsequential number of Shadows. Experience with the enemies was on their side though, and thanks to it and their ever increasing strength they were actually doing rather well.

Then Ryuji was inflicted with Rage.

As far as all the nasty effects the Shadows could throw at you went, it wasn’t a terrible one for Ryuji to be hit with at a glance. Whilst Ann found it particularly annoying with its side effect of preventing her from focusing on the powerful fire magic she specialised in, it increasing Ryuji’s already formidable melee might could actually backfire on their enemies as often as it befitted them, and apparently this was one of those times. Shadow after Shadow fell to his wild swings, and as the last Shadow fell it seemed like they had received a blessing in disguise, that is until his violent assault of the floor and walls made it rather evident the boy hadn’t calmed down despite the lack of enemies. After Makoto had confirmed she didn’t have it in her to cast Energy Shower, Ann fished out an Amrita Drop and approached him to rid him of his ailment, her manner of doing so rather blithe in hindsight. As she grabbed his shoulder muttering a “Hey, numbskull.”, she only had a second or so to process what was happening.

That being the steel pipe mid-swing, heading straight toward her face.

There really wasn’t much left to remember at that point. How little her mask had cushioned the blow as it connected, the alarm and panic in her friends outbursts as she reeled from it, and the sudden and harsh collision with the ground. After that, nothing.

\----

Momentarily stunned by the revelation her eyes fell from Skull and to the mask in her hands, a crack stretching from the right ear to the eye hole telling quite the tale. Ann was certainly grateful for the enhanced endurance and healing powers the metaverse granted them. In reality a strike like that from someone of Ryuji’s build would be something one would need to be extremely lucky to walk away from at all. His lack of eagerness to involve himself with the group right now suddenly a lot easier to explain. It was hardly his fault so she didn’t quite understand, but she somehow got the feeling he didn’t see it that way.

“Don’t worry about it Skull. Damn you’ve got a hell of a swing though huh? Maybe you’re more suited to baseball than track?” Her joke elicited no reaction from him as her awkward chuckle died off.

“You’re lucky that Panther is so forgiving!” spat Morgana. “You should be out there walking after what you did!”

“Mona seriously knock that off!” Ann snapped back, her head still throbbing. “We all made it out fine and it wasn’t his fault, so let’s lay it to rest okay?”

“If anyone is at fault it’s me. I should know everyone’s limits by now by I pushed us too far. I’m sorry Panther.” Ren muttered more to himself than anything as Makoto placed a hand on his shoulder, likely her own attempt to keep his guilt in check.

“It’s nobodies fault alright! Everything worked out fi-”

“Nah. Mona’s right. I screwed up” Ann’s rant was cut off as Ryuji spoke up for the first time since she’d woken up. He was still refusing to look at her, but she was grateful for the minimal progress. “You really alright?” His voice was barely audible when competing with Morgana’s ‘engine’, but she picked it up all the same.

“As well as someone can be after that yeah.” she said forcing a smile “So don’t go blaming yourself alright?” His lack of a response gave birth to another heavy silence that nobody seemed to want to break, leaving the rest of the return trip unpleasant but unremarkable. Ann was hardly pleased with the outcome but resolved to smooth things over tomorrow, once he’d had a chance to calm down and her head didn’t hate her so much.

\----

Of course things hardly ever go that smoothly and the next few days were particularly irritating. Ryuji was seemingly nowhere to be found during school even during lunch where they’d typically hunt each other down, he participation in their group chat was minimal at best and he had a funny habit to shut up entirely when she was active herself, and during a trip to the metaverse he had adamantly turned down a spot of the front line squad once he’d learned she’d be taking point too. She had caught glimpses of him on the way to and from school, but she could only guess he’d spotted her too given the pace of the run she couldn’t hope to keep up with he had taken up in place of his usual slouched dawdle. She was well aware just how much a strain a run like that put on his leg. He really, really wanted to avoid this. Not counting the brief and yet to her far too long window where Kamoshida had torn a massive rift between them, Ann had always disliked not winding up in the same class some high school, and that feeling was stronger than ever right now. Today though that regret worked to her benefit, as her eyes widened in inspiration. Ryuji may not be in the same class as her, but as she turned in her seat she remembered another good friend was.

“Ren, gimmie your phone a minute.”

Later that night as Ann walked up to the Jazz Club’s entrance, she couldn’t help but grin at her latent cunning. A message from Ren asking him to meet at one of the Ren-iest places around had worked apparently, with Ryuji agreeing to meet him there at eight. She had intentionally turned up ten minutes after that, even accounting for the five minutes or so late Ryuji had set the precedent for being, in order to make sure she arrived after he was already cornered in the club. Walking the the doors and talking out her wallet to pay the greeter, she saw him already sat at a table in the back. He’d clearly spotted her, but as Ann walked over with a Mightini in one hand and a Magic Fizz in the other she was rather put off by his lack of anything resembling shock or surprise.

“You’re acting like you expected to see me here.” she stated, placing the Mightini in front of the bottle blond.

“Ren doesn’t say ‘Heyyya’ y’know? Doesn’t leave kisses in his message either by the way. Not for me anyway…” His voice during that last part carried emotion Ann couldn’t quite place, though mulling it over wasn’t a priority right now.

“And to think people call you stupid.” she baited, hoping to let some of the air out of the room with a round of their usual banter, only to be disappointed when no ‘Yeah and it’s usually you’ or even a ‘Can it’ came though,her prodding instead only eliciting a roll of the eyes that still wouldn't meet hers. She continued, “I’m guessing you know why I called you out here then?

“Nope. Don’t know why you want to be around me at all honestly.” Ryuji sighed, twirling his drink with the straw.

“Did Morgana apologise for giving you a hard time? I did tell him to.”

“Yeah, cat’s been doing that a lot more lately” he said as he took his first sip.

“You could return the favour and stop calling him a cat y’know?”

“Probably should huh?” he shrugged. “Anyway he shouldn’t have. He was actually right for once.” Before she could object he followed up. “I’m really sorry by the way. You really alright?”

“Don’t flatter yourself so much. I’ve been hit harder than that after all this time y’know?” She said taking a sip of her own drink. Ew. Carbonated. Why did she order this again? “Still you do have quite a swing though. Maybe you should have been on the baseball team rather tha-”

“You made that joke already and it wasn’t funny the first time!” he snapped suddenly, his fist hitting the table with a resounding bang that caused Ann to flinch backwards in her seat. The look of regret on his face made her curse her instinctual recoil. “Ah! Dammit I’m sorry! I didn’t mean t- why can’t I just calm down? Shit!” he began to verbally berate himself before giving a resounding and defeatist sigh. “I really am just like that old bastard aren’t I?”

“W-what? Just like who? Who's the old bas-" Then it clicked. The last piece of the puzzle slid into place, now so blatantly clear she was furious with herself that it had taken her this long. "It's your father. You're talking about your father aren't you?" 

“I tell you too damn much...” he scoffed with a shake of his head. She couldn't deny the stories she had heard were so terrible that even secondhand and years old, they still caused her stomach to turn. “Yeah you got it. I’m no different from him. Even when I was causing trouble for mom or proving everybody right about me, I always told myself I was better than that at least. But it ain’t true is it?” He was rather blatantly holding back tears, and the sight of his misplaced pain almost had her doing the same.

“Come on, please don’t talk like that alright? You weren’t yourself back there. I know I never met him but I know you’re nothing like what you’ve told me”

“Yet maybe!” he rebutted, “But how can either of us know that? It’s not like my mom went looking to marry the scum of the earth right? Even I can remember him giving me a smile instead of a beating way back. If that asshole can change like that why should I be any different?” He gulped down a mouthful of his drink as if it were alcohol to drown his feelings.

“I don’t believe that Ryuji.” Ann stated without hesitation. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Why the hell not?” he replied, exasperation worming its way through his self loathing. “You’ve seen the dumb shit I do when I’m pissed off. Taking a swing at a former athlete twice my size? Jumping in front of a car just because another one snubbed us? If I can pull shit like that, what’s stopping me from lashing out at any of you guys?” He buried his head in his hands. “We just got lucky enough that all that shit went down in the metaverse. If I ever actually hurt y- hurt any of you? I couldn’t-I wouldn’t be able t-” Seeing him begin to stumble and almost as hurt by his words as Ryuji surely was himself, Ann’s instincts kicked in again and she lunged and grabbed his hand in hers.

“Look me in the eyes okay? Don’t look away.” She quickly cut of his protest. She saw him panic, but he nodded in response. “Keep hold of my hand, breath deeply and count to ten with me okay?”

“Ann what are yo-”

“Okay?”

“...Okay.”

She began counting down as she breathed in and out deliberately with each digit, and he swiftly matched her rhythm as they started doing so in harmony, her hand giving his a reassuring squeeze with each increment. Staring deep into his soothing brown eyes that sharply contrasted loud blonde hair, Ann had to remind herself to swallow her nerves and follow her own instruction to keep eye contact. As their countdown reached zero, she was grateful to feel his pulse dropping from raging fast to steady and calm, and his hand stop shaking in hers.

“How about it? Did it work? You feel any better?” she asked a tad more desperately than she would have liked given her goal was to relax him.

“I-yeah actually. A little anyway.” he said astonished. “What the hell was that?”

“Breathing technique to help you settle down a bit. Shiho taught me it.” she said, smiling at the memory of her dear friend. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I can get pretty emotional too.”

“Oh yeah just a little now and again.” The smirk on his face as he shook his head was a weak one, but more than enough to encourage Ann to press the advantage.  
“Just how often would you say I piss you off Ryuji?” she asked matter of factly.

“Huh?”

“Just say it. How often do I push your buttons? Call you an idiot or try to tease you? That kind of thing.”

“Fine then.” he sighed, “Just about every other damn day. You’re a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

“Right, and do I get that around anyone else?”

“Uhhh.” he faltered. “I guess not? Dunno how you are when I’m not there to push around, but nobody as far as I know.”

“Right again.” she said, nodding her head in congratulations. “And do you know why I’m only like that with you?”

“Well I’d say it’s because you hate me but I know that ain’t true at least.” She was grateful he was that aware of her at least. “You just like seeing me squirm?”

“No! Well…alright yeah that’s true, but there’s another reason. I trust you.”

“Trust me?” he questioned tilting his head, her answer apparently not sufficient to spell it out for him. “Trust me how?”

“Think about it. Do you really think I’d go around riling you up if I thought you could snap at any minute? That you’re one bad poke in the ribs away from hurting me?”

“Well…no I guess not?” he murmured, seemingly never having considered that.

“When someone else comes out with something that makes me wanna tell them where to go, half the time I just brush it off or ignore it, but with you there’s no tiptoeing around or walking on eggshells when it comes to that kind of thing. I feel safe around you. Safe enough to know I’m fine yanking your chain a bit. Guess it’s kinda weird, but you get what I’m saying right?”

As he nodded it wasn’t lost on her she wasn’t telling him the complete truth. That he was the only friend on the team that she wasn’t deathly afraid of abandoning her, the only one that didn’t stoke at her fear of loneliness and isolation. Not because she didn’t value his company enough to mind losing it, since that couldn’t be any further from the truth. No, it was because he was the only one she was certain never would. No matter what spats they had or storms they brave together, she was resolute in her stance he would always be there with her once it had passed.

But that doesn’t come out. Not today anyway. Perhaps because the past few days had tested that faith somewhat, or perhaps because it involved admitting to something she hadn’t quite admitted to herself yet, but it doesn’t come out either way.

“Besides,” she continued, pushing such thoughts to the wayside for now, “Those examples you just brought up aren’t exactly all bad right? You remember why you wanted to slug Kamoshida right?”. He scoffed in reply, but with a smile still on his face.

“Defending the track team. For all the good it did em.”

“Mmhmm, and while I’ll kill you myself if you ever do it again, why did you jump in front of that cab?”

“To save Makoto. Hated her at the time sure, but I wasn’t about to let those creeps drive off with her.”

“See? You see the difference right? You don’t always think stuff through sure, but all you do comes from a good place. From that stubborn compassion of yours. You just care Ryuji. Sometimes a little too much maybe, but you do. Always have and…I’ve always liked that about you.” she finished, deciding to cut herself off there before she perhaps said too much. The boy in front of her who was at the center of her diatribe seemed a little thrown for a loop by such praise, but happiness seemed to trump any embarrassment.

“You’re calling me stubborn? That’s rich.” he managed a chuckle. “Look Ann, I really dunno if I can ever see myself quite that way. If I didn’t know you well enough to know how honest you are I’d be tempted to say you were full of shit. But…” he confessed, continuing to look into the eyes he’d been avoiding as of late. “I do know you, and I trust you too. Even if I can’t quite believe it myself, I can trust that you believe it. Is that enough for now?”

“Sure, for now.” she nodded in contentment, as a realisation that she’d almost certainly actually known for a while became loud and clear to her.

She really did love him didn’t she? Wow. Maybe he’d clocked her harder than she thought.

“There is something I really gotta ask you though.”. His sudden speech collided with her current thoughts was enough to snap her back into shocking reality.

“Huh? Something? W-what something?” Had he reached the same conclusion? Was this too fast? What the hell did he wa-

“How long you gonna hold on to my hand for?”

Ann’s looked down in alarm, it dawning on her that she had neglected to let go of his hand all this time. As quick as the shock came though it vanished, as she realised how amazing her manicured fingertips felt against his callouses, and how little she cared about the stares of the club’s other patrons.

“Since you asked, is just a little longer okay?” she said, gripping a little tighter and her thumb brushing his knuckles.

Taken aback by a response that was likely the last one he had been expecting, all he could manage to reply was a stammering “Okay.” of his own.

The feelings that Ryuji so feared and despised never truly went away completely. Not in the coming months when the ever expanding bubbles that were their feelings finally burst and everything was laid bare, or the first few times they’d made love and she’d have to stoke out the lust needed to stop him treating her as if she was made of porcelain. Nor the years after that as Ann tried to convince him the term ‘husband’ wasn’t a word to recoil from as she grabbed his hand and their rings clinked together, or as he cradled their newborn daughter and badgered the still exhausted model into promising to make sure he’d never see either of them again if he slipped up even once. But the words to help abate his fears come easy to Ann every time. Sometimes calmly and sometimes with a fury all her own, but always with ease. Because not once did she ever stop believing in them or in him with all her heart.

**Author's Note:**

> I went somewhat out of my comfort zone for this one I feel, but I'm actually rather pleased with how it turned out. I was originally going to explore the themes here set in the future with the two already married with a kid, but the story flowed a lot better for me this way. Not that I'm adverse to writing something along that route at some other point mind you. I don't think writing any of the other characters comes as naturally to me as writing Ann or Ryuji does, but I'm glad to get my feet wet doing so at least. Feedback and critique is absolutely welcomed, and whilst I'm planning on writing something for another (far less appreciated) pairing in the near future, I've still got some ideas for these two in me yet. See you then.


End file.
